Somersworth voters approve tax cap

SOMERSWORTH — Residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of instituting a tax cap Tuesday, voting in favor of the amendment 3,080 to 2,087.

This amendment would limit the increase in the city’s property tax rate during a fiscal year to an amount not to exceed the property tax rate established during the prior fiscal year increased by a factor equal to the change in the National Consumer Price Index-Urban, as published by the United States Department of Labor, for the calendar year immediately preceding the year of the budget adoption.

The amendment would provide that capital expenditures and the total, or any part, of the principal and interest payments of any municipal bond could be excluded from the tax cap limitation upon a two-thirds vote of members of the City Council.

The amendment would also provide that the tax cap limitation could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of all members of the City Council.